Martha Ackelsberg papers
Scope and Contents
This collection includes documentation of Ackelsberg's involvement in Northampton, Massachusettes' affordable housing and sustainable development initiatives, including materials pertaining to the displacement and relocation of tenants living in Smith College-owned buildings to make way for the new Ford Engineering Building. There are extensive materials relating to Ackelsberg's involvement in various Jewish activism organization and projects. Also included are transcriptions of interviews with and notes about members of the organization Mujeres Libres, mostly in Spanish, for her book,Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women.(1991).There are also records of the Jewish feminist spirituality collective B'Not Esh, which Ackelsberg donated, some of which are closed to researchers.
Dates of Materials
- Creation: 1929 - 2015
Creator
- Ackelsberg, Martha A. (Person)
Language of Materials
English, Spanish, French, Polish, Basque
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open with following restrictions on access: At the direction of the donor, one document box of personal correspondence is closed until 2064.
Conditions Governing Use
To the extent that she owns copyright, Martha Ackesberg has assigned the copyright in her works to Smith College; however, copyright in other items in this collection may be held by their respective creators. For reproductions of materials that are governed by fair use as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission to cite or publish is required. For instances which may regard materials in the collection not created by Ackelsberg, researchers are responsible for determining who may hold materials' copyrights and obtaining approval from them. Researchers do not need anything further from Smith College Special Collections to move forward with their use.
Biographical Note
Martha Ackelsberg is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emerita of Government and Professor Emerita of the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College. Born in 1946 in New York City to Socialist Zionist parents, Ackelsberg earned a bachelors degree in social studies from Radcliffe College, and a masters and doctorate degrees in political philosophy from Princeton. While at Princeton, she explored anarchist theories of justice in Godwin, Bakunin and Kropotkin, and her dissertation focused on anarchist theory and practice during the Spanish Civil War. In 1991 she published her book,Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women.Ackelsberg has been a political science professor at Smith College since 1972. She has written extensively on the topics of women's community activism, gender and public policy, feminist and democratic theory, and women in Jewish communities.
Extent
26.022 linear feet (27 containers)
0.0273 Gigabytes
Abstract
Martha Ackelsberg is the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor Emerita of Government and Professor Emerita of the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College. Born in 1946 in New York City to Socialist Zionist parents, Ackelsberg earned a bachelors degree in social studies from Radcliffe College, and a masters and doctorate degrees in political philosophy from Princeton. While at Princeton, she explored anarchist theories of justice in Godwin, Bakunin and Kropotkin, and her dissertation focused on anarchist theory and practice during the Spanish Civil War. In 1991 she published her book,Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women.Ackelsberg was a political science professor at Smith College since 1972. She has written extensively on the topics of women's community activism, gender and public policy, feminist and democratic theory, and women in Jewish communities.This collection includes documentation of Ackelsberg's involvement in Northampton, Massachuesetts, affordable housing and sustainable development initiatives, including materials pertaining to the displacement and relocation of tenants living in Smith College-owned buildings, to make way for the new Ford Engineering Building. There are extensive materials relating to Ackelsberg's involvement in various Jewish activism organization and projects. Also included are transcriptions of interviews with and notes about members of the organization Mujeres Libres, mostly in Spanish, for her 1991 book.
Arrangement
This collection has been added to over time in multiple "accessions." An accession is a group of materials received from the same source at approximately the same time.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
This collection contains materials received from the donor in digital form that are not currently available online. Please consult with Special Collections staff to request access to this digital content.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These papers were donated by Martha Ackelsberg between 2009 to 2016.
Separated Materials
Acc.#09S-53 boxes 1 and 2 returned to donor (6/24/16).
Processing Information
The contents of computer media in this collection has been copied to networked storage for preservation and access; the original directory and file structure was retained and file lists were created.
Processing Information
Between September 2022 and February 2023, Smith College Special Collections renumbered many boxes to eliminate duplicate numbers within collections in order to improve researcher experience. A full crosswalk of old to new numbers is available.
Subject
- Mujeres Libres (Organization : Spain) (Organization)
- Smith College--Faculty (Organization)
- Ackelsberg, Martha A. (Person)
Source
- Ackelsberg, Martha A. (Donor, Person)
Genre / Form
Geographic
- Northampton (Mass.) -- Politics and government
- Northampton (Mass.) -- Social conditions
- Spain -- Civil War, 1936-1939 -- Women
Topical
- Title
- Finding aid to Martha Ackelsberg papers
- Status
- Minimum Finding Aid (Completed)
- Author
- Ellice Amanna
- Date
- 2019
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Revision Statements
- 2017-07-26T17:48:24-04:00: This record was migrated from InMagic DB Textworks to ArchivesSpace.
- 2020-05-18: Description added for born-digital content.
Repository Details
Part of the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History Repository
